Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



Simon could already imagine installing them on various floors of his dungeon and aggravating the adventurers to no end.

That said, there was another thing about the arrays that one needed to know. They cannot be installed just anywhere. To activate an array one needed a stable and powerful source of energy to power them.

As such, it made sense to install them in a place which has a Mystical Vein passing through underneath it. One can also substitute the energy source with mana crystals; however to power even the weakest and the smallest of arrays, one needed tens of thousands of mana crystals above grade [3].

Given how rare and scarce mana crystals above grade [3] was, not just anyone can splurge them on the arrays. But Simon was not just any person, he was the dungeon master of Laplace, an intermediate tier dungeon.

Not only that, the resources that he has available to him, thanks to the heaven defying abilities of his subordinate, even some high ranking demon noble cannot match it.

Be it the Mystical veins inside his dungeon or the Mana crystals, he had an abundance of them. Of course not to the point of splurging freely, but he could still spare some for the activation of the arrays when needed.

The rows of Trees of Mana Crystals near the pond of serenity, which have grown from saplings to become an adult trees, were now a sight to see. They not only produce crystals grade [4] and above, but the branches of the trees are now full of mana crystals which shines with beautiful multicolour light adding to the splendour of the place.

Aside from that place, there was another area on the Main Floor called the Mana Crystal Forest as well as other floors with Trees of Mana Crystals planted. Even now, they were steadily producing Mana crystals to meet the growing needs of the dungeon.

If he also added the numerous quarries into the mix, dungeon Laplace had plenty of them. As such, Simon could freely install the arrays in any place he wants without worrying much about the expenditure.

He was just looking forward to how he could make the most out of the arrays when suddenly, he received a mental communication from one of the [Helpers].

"Is this Jarred? For you to call me directly… is there a problem?"…

"Yes my lord, there is a situation here on the 58th floor and we don't know how to quite handle it" Jarred replied from the other end of the communication.

"Is the situation dangerous?" Simon asked.

Seeing that the other party did not reply, he stopped what he was doing and added "I'm heading over there, make sure you guys do not get involved before I arrive".

Simon ended the communication, got up from his seat and immediately headed over to the 58th floor.

  -----

58th floor, a vast wildland. Concealed at the centre of the floor by those tall overgrown trees, was a passageway that led towards a dark pavement inside.

Simon teleported near the place and immediately spotted his subordinates who were waiting for him.

"My lord" they all kneeled the moment they saw him. Simon nodded his head in acknowledgement and asked them about the situation.

Jarred who was the one monitoring the situation with a few new [Helpers] on the 58th floor, immediately gave him a summary.

"What?!... Hmm, so you are saying that they are not hostile?" Simon questioned.

"Yes my lord, they have been sitting there motionlessly in that place for a long time now. They do not respond even when we call out to them. It is as if their soul had already left their bodies and they are just lifeless dolls now" Jarred explained.

Hearing his words, Simon fell into contemplation. After a while, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"If its as you said, let us head inside. I want to see them myself".

Simon took the lead with the [Helpers] closely following behind and headed inside the hidden chamber. That's right, the passageway conceled within the trees on the 58th floor, was none other than a hidden chamber that Fey, Maya and the other [Helpers] had created.

'If I remember correctly, the monster guarding this place should be a Giant Earth Golem' Simon recalled as he walked forward. Since he was the dungeon master of this entire place, the traps did not activate when he stepped on them.

The same was for the [Helpers] who were the inhabitants recognised by the dungeon.

Soon after walking through a winding long path, the passageway expanded to reveal a giant chamber in front.

"They are inside my lord" Jarred stated.

Simon stepped forward and the huge metallic gates of the chamber slowly strut open to reveal an enormous dark chamber inside. At the end of the chamber, two huge blue lights could be seen penetrating through the darkness.

Those were the eyes of the Giant Earth Golem whose figure was obscured by the darkness. Had it been an intruder and not him, those eyes would have immediately turned from blue to red and the door behind him would have been shut closed trapping him inside.

The fate of those trapped inside this chamber need not be imagined since it was right in front of his eyes. A group of adventurers, who dared to enter this chamber blinded by their greed, lay splattered and dead all across the ground in front of him.

It was a bloody sight with gore that had been turned into a paste by something heavy, littering the chamber. A nauseating smell filled the place.

At the centre of the floor, on top of a small stone pedestal was an exquisite looking treasure box that glimmered even within the darkness. That was the objective of the adventurers; unfortunately, their life came to a premature end when they met the guardian of this chamber, the earth golem.

Simon shifted his eyes away from the treasure chest and looked around. His crimson eyes quickly spotted the shadows cuddling around a corner of the chamber. The reason why he was here, was because of these people.

As Simon approached closer, he was able to see their appearance, more clearly.

"Demihumans!!" there was no other way to describe them. There was a total of six demihumans in the chamber. They were all dressed in a clothing of a slave and had collars marked with runes on their neck indicating their status.

To put it bluntly, these demihumans were the slaves of the adventurers who perished here.

"It looks like their mind have been broken. Their bodies might just as well be soulless dolls now. No wonder the Earth Golem did not kill them" Simon commented as he observed the condition of the demihumans.

Two male Weretigers, one Cienthrope, one Elf, one Dark Elf and one Cat kin. Other than the two male Weretigers all the other demihumans were females.

The bodies of the two tiger kins were battered and bruised indicating that they were badly abused. The females on the other hand were forced to wear revealing clothes and from the many scar marks that their bodies bore, it wasn't hard to guess that they have been defiled and were reduced to a plaything of the adventurers.

What sickened Simon was the fact that these demihumans have been subjected to the revolting hobbies of their masters.

The two male Weretiger had their tails cut, the female elf who were known for their long beautiful blonde hair, had her head shaved. The female dark elf had her face scarred by acid, the cat kin had her mouth mutilated so she cannot purr anymore and the cienthrope girl had her ears cut.

Each of them were subjected to cruel torture and suffered a horrendous life up until now. It was no wonder that they were mentally broken and their eyes looked hollow. How could one have the will to leave even after that?

Even Simon had a trace of pity for them. These kinds of acts went beyond his liking.

Sigh… he sighed a deep breath of air and unsheathed his weapon. Simon felt sorry for these demihumans and as such, he was going to free them of their misery. Death would be the best salvation for them.

Just as Simon was about to swing his sword to kill them in one swift motion, Jarred opened his mouth and asked—

"Is my lord going to kill them?".

Simon stopped his movement and turned towards Jarred who was looking at the demihumans with pitying eyes. No, his eyes had much deeper emotions within them.

'Is he perhaps empathising with these demihumans?'. It was not only him, the others [Helpers] had similar emotions in their eyes while looking at the demihumans.

Ah! It was only now that Simon realised that the Forest Spring Spirits had suffered a similar fate throughout history. Once they are captured, they are either killed for their orbs or made a slave of some high ranking individual who paid a hefty sum for them.

If Simon had not saved the Forest Spring Spirits that night, perhaps their ending would have been even more miserable than the demihumans. 

Simon fell into a dilemma, he could see the despairing eyes of the demihumans that sought death, liberation from this misery. However, after thinking about the Forest Spring Spirits, he felt like he couldn't kill them. T

hat said, letting these demihumans to live in their current state, could it even be called living? Haa… what should he do? Simon suddenly felt like the sword in his hand become heavier making him unable to swing it anymore.

He sheathed his sword back, scratched his hair and contemplated for a good few minutes. Unable to come up with an answer even after that, he decided to… "Take them to prison".

He decided to keep them there for the time being.